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The union representing New Castle County Police Department officers has sued county government over who has the ultimate authority to discipline officers.

The lawsuit filed in June in New Castle County Superior Court said County Executive Matt Meyer's administration has gone against county and state laws and diminished the authority of the chief of police by giving the local government's top human resources manager more say over how police are punished for workplace infractions.

On Thursday, the county asked a judge to dismiss the complaint, arguing there is no real controversy over who has authority in deciding police discipline measures.

The lawsuit comes as Meyer's administration seeks to standardize discipline measures across all of the county's several departments by giving the chief human resources officer more responsibility to sign off on punishments.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 President Michael Zielinski, whose union represents some 400 sworn officers on the county force, said officers are bound by a police-specific code of conduct in addition to the work rules that apply to all county employees. He said the chief of police is in the best position to have final say over the discipline of officers.

"Our belief is that the chief of police has the best knowledge and understanding of how our internal code of conduct works," Zielinski said. "He is a police officer. He has been through the system and has vast knowledge and experience."

Historically, the chief has had authority over all discipline measures, like suspensions, he said.

Typically, in cases where the chief believes an officer should be fired, he or she makes that recommendation to the chief human resources officer. That official instigates a pre-termination hearing and acts as the final decision maker, though police also have the ability to appeal the decision per their union contract, Zielinski said.

That process changed in February, the lawsuit claims.

Around that time, the chief human resources officer notified the Police Department that all discipline measure would need to be submitted to a human resources specialist before a penalty could be issued, the lawsuit states.

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New Castle County police were on the scene of a shooting at Briar Cliff Drive in New Castle just south of Wilmington earlier this year.(Photo: Suchat Pederson, The News Journal)

This is a change because previously the chief human resources officer acted only as a "repository" for discipline records that do not rise to firing, the lawsuit says.

The county's response argues that there is no controversy about the chief of police's say in such matters because human resources officials are only reviewing the police chief's decisions on punishments to ensure consistency.

The lawsuit also states that the county's chief human resources officer overstepped her authority by notifying "several" officers under internal review that they were slated to be fired unless they wanted a pre-termination hearing. This happened without the chief initially recommending such punishment, the lawsuit claims.

The county's response states that no actionable controversy exists in these cases because the chief ultimately had a say in those cases or the firing was abandoned in the union-mandated grievance process.

Zielinski declined to comment on the specific cases mentioned in the lawsuit but argued the lawsuit is not moot.

"The county code says X; they did Y," Zielinski said. "It is about process and procedure that has changed."

Jason Miller, spokesman for Meyer, said the county could not answer questions about pending litigation. In a series of written statements, he said the county follows "county code and state law which direct that discipline of police officers below the level of termination be administered within the police chain of command."

He added that policy was reaffirmed by the Police Department earlier this year. Police Chief Vaughn Bond Jr. declined to comment citing the pending litigation.

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New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer shakes hands with Vaughn Bond after announcing him as the new police chief for the New Castle County Police Department earlier this year.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

In May, Vanessa Phillips, who was appointed by Meyer as chief human resources officer, addressed the county's Human Resources Advisory Board about changes to the county's disciplining policy, according to meeting minutes.

The board was discussing proposed changes to the county code that would give Phillips more decision-making oversight of disciplinary measures taken in the county's various departments.

She told the board that her position is one of only two in local government that has a countywide view of how discipline measures are being implemented, according to the minutes. The change is necessary to ensure actions are fair across all county departments, she said.

Earlier this week, the New Castle County Council introduced legislation to codify changes to the discipline process. It is expected to be voted on later this year. Miller said that legislation does not apply to police.

On Wednesday, Zielinski said that was not obvious from the text of the legislation.